There are 114 Surahs consisting of 86 "Makki" Surahs and 28 "Madani" Surahs.
Makki Surah having Ayaat that were revealed before the Hijrah of the Prophet s.a.w.
Madani Surah having a majority of Ayaat that were revealed after the Hijrah of the Prophet s.a.w. An Ayah that was revealed in Makkah but after the Hijrah, is considered as a Madani ayah. The same Madani surah may have a little of Makki ayaat (revealed before the Hijrah) in it.
Makki Surah - The Theme is mainly about Tauhid (The Oneness of Allah as the Creator and Master), life after death, judgement day, Sabr (perseverance, patience), strength in faith, etc. The Primary non believing audience were the pagan Mushrikun.
Generally, the shorter Surahs were usually Makki.
Makki Surah - The Theme is mainly about Islamic Laws, the Muslim community, the Jews, the Christians, the Munafiqs, relationship with others, tension with the Mushrikun, war, etc. The Primary non believing audience were the Jews and Christians.
1. Alfatihah, Makki
2. Al-Baqarah, Madani
3. Ali-Imran, Madani
4. An-Nisa, Madani
5. Al-Ma’idah, Madani
6. Al-An’am, Makki
7. Al-A’raf, Makki
8. Al-Anfal, Madani
9. At-Tawbah, Madani
10. Yunus, Makki
11. Hud, Makki
12. Yusuf, Makki
13. Ar-Ra’d, Madani
14. Ibrahim, Makki
15. Al-Hijr, Makki
16. An-Nahl, Makki
17. Al-Isra, Makki
18. Al-Kahf, Makki
19. Maryam, Makki
20. Ta-Ha, Makki
21. Al-Anbiya, Makki
22. Al-Hajj, Makki
23. Al-Mu’minun, Makki
24. An-Nur, Madani
25. Al-Furqan, Makki
26. Ash-Shu’ara, Makki
27. An-Naml, Makki
28. Al-Qasas, Makki
29. Al-Ankabut, Makki
30. Ar-Rum, Makki
31. Luqman, Makki
32. As-Sajda, Makki
33. Al-Ahzab, Madani
34. Saba, Makki
35. Fatir, Makki
36. Ya-Sin, Makki
37. As-Saffat, Makki
38. Sad, Makki
39. Az-Zumar, Makki
40. Ghafir, Makki
41. Fussilat, Makki
42. Ash-Shura, Makki
43. Az-Zukhruf, Makki
44. Ad-Dukhan, Makki
45. Al-Jathiya, Makki
46. Al-Ahqaf, Makki
47. Muhammad, Madani
48. Al-Fath, Madani
49. Al-Hujraat, Madani
50. Qaf, Makki
51. Adh-Dhariyat, Makki
52. At-Tur, Makki
53. An-Najm, Makki
54. Al-Qamar, Makki
55. Ar-Rahman, Madani
56. Al-Waqi’a, Makki
57. Al-Hadid, Madani
58. Al-Mujadila, Madani
59. Al-Hashr, Madani
60. Al-Mumtahina, Madani
61. As-Saff, Madani
62. Al-Jumu’a, Madani
63. Al-Munafiqun, Madani
64. At-Taghabun, Madani
65. At-Talaq, Madani
66. At-Tahrim, Madani
67. Al-Mulk, Makki
68. Al-Qalam, Makki
69. Al-Haaqqa, Makki
70. Al-Ma’arij, Makki
71. Nuh, Makki
72. Al-Jinn, Makki
73. Al-Muzzammil, Makki
74. Al-Muddathir, Makki
75. Al-Qiyama, Makki
76. Al-Insan, Madani
77. Al-Mursalat, Makki
78. An-Naba, Makki
79. An-Nazi’at, Makki
80. Abasa, Makki
81. At-Takwir, Makki
82. Al-Infitar, Makki
83. Al-Mutaffifin, Makki
84. Al-Inshiqaq, Makki
85. Al-Buruj, Makki
86. At-Tariq, Makki
87. Al-Ala, Makki
88. Al-Ghashiyah, Makki
89. Al-Fajr, Makki
90. Al-Balad, Makki
91. Ash-Shams, Makki
92. Al-Layl, Makki
93. Adh-Dhuha, Makki
94. Ash-Sharh, Makki
95. At-Tin, Makki
96. Al-Alaq, Makki
97. Al-Qadr, Makki
98. Al-Bayyina, Madani
99. Az-Zalzalah, Madani
100. Al-Adiyat, Makki
101. Al-Qari’a, Makki
102. At-Takathur, Makki
103. Al-Asr, Makki
104. Al-Humazah, Makki
105. Al-Fil, Makki
106. Quraish, Makki
107. Al-Ma’un, Makki
108. Al-Kawthar, Makki
109. Al-Kafirun, Makki
110. An-Nasr, Madani
111. Al-Masad, Makki
112. Al-Ikhlas, Makki
113. Al-Fa laq, Makki
114. An-Nas, Makki
Groups of Ayaat (in the Qur’an) together formed a “Surah”.
There is no exact word to translate the word “Surah”.
Some translators incorrectly called it “Chapter”. “Surah” is not a chapter. A chapter is used in a story book. A chapter contains one single happening and anything related to that story. A chapter that comes after another chapter is a continuation of the story so far. If you flip to the middle chapter without reading the beginning chapters, you will have no idea of what is going on in the story.
The Qur’an is not a story book. If you flip to a Surah in the middle of the Qur’an, you still get the complete message. If you see a Surah with the title “Ibraheem”, it is not a chapter talking only about Ibraheem. The majority of the passages are about something else. If you see a Surah with the title “Al-Baqorah” (The Cow), you don’t expect all 286 ayaat in it are about the Cow. The cow is only mentioned twice in this very long Surah.
A Surah is not a chapter; it has its own unique concept. Those who criticized the Qur’an were actually comparing it with the concept of a normal book be it a story book, a science textbook, an encyclopedia, history book, etc. They said that the chapters in the Qur’an were not arranged in order. It was not arranged by topics, subjects, not chronological according to the timeline of revelations, etc.
How can we criticize a newspaper for not following the chapters in a story book? The first page of the newspaper may have an article about things that happened later in the day than an article in the second page and vice versa. You may see an old AD (advertisement) that is on the first page, while another AD which only appeared today is printed at the last page. The content of the first page may have nothing to do with the content of the second page. You can flip to the middle page and read the articles without the need to first know what was being talked about in the articles at the front page (unless if it is a continuation of a very long article). You cannot criticize the newspaper for not following the standards of a book with chapters.
If a student submits a very long essay, the teacher will be expecting that he follow certain standards and format of writing an essay. The Qur’an however, does not follow any man-made standards (be it a book, an essay, a newspaper, a magazine, a composition, etc).
The Qur’an is also not like a document with footnotes to refer back to previous information about a subject that is currently being discussed. Previously mentioned information will be mentioned again to suit the guidance that is contained in the current Surah.
The word Surah or “Soorah” derived from the words “Saurah” and “Soor” which in summary means : A very far reaching sight (“Saurah”) when you stand on a “Soor” which is a high elevated structure, overlooking a city which is surrounded/protected by the “Soor”. (Ancient cities had “Soor” around it to protect the city from invasion etc.)
Therefore, a Surah can be compared to a town or a city. You have the residential area, the market, the police, fire department, etc. You can be in one place at a time where your sight is limited around that area. However if you are looking from a high place (like a “soor”) or from a helicopter, you can see every section of the city and you realize they are all connected and each plays a part in the city.
Some city are large and some are small. You will have more things in a large city than a small city. Some Surahs are large and some are small. In a large Surah, you are reading part-by-part of the Surah just like being on one part of the city and the next. The same Surah will be talking on different issues but if you have your sight on the whole Surah (like an elevated location looking down on the city), all the issues are actually related to each other. When you are at an elevated place, the view around you will be awesome. The same goes when you are viewing (understanding) the Surah as a whole, you will find that the Surah was beautifully arranged.
Another example: Each town has the issue of drainage system, sewerage, power/energy lines, education, jobs, etc. Even though each of the issue is a separate subject individually but when they were put together, they formed a town or city. If you look at each Surah, there are many individual issues mentioned which seemed that each issue has nothing to do with the other issue. However when put together in the same Surah, the objective of guidance is obtained (like jigsaw puzzles put together to get the bigger picture).
To differentiate between a market and a mall in the same city, you will have boundaries. As for a Surah, you will find certain group of ayaat with the same rhyme while another group having a different set of rhymes which is the boundary between one issue to another.
Other Surah will be like another town with market, police, shopping mall, etc. A market in one town will not be the same as another town. You may not find what you are looking for in a mall of one town but you may find it in a mall of another town. A town may have a mall specializing in fishing or scuba diving, etc. While other towns have their own uniqueness. As in the Qur’an, you may find guidance specifically suited to an issue that you are currently experiencing in one of the Surahs.
Each Surah has its own theme or uniqueness. If a town is well known about a very special dish, you will not find that same dish in every kitchen households in that town. It may be only available in two or three restaurants in that town. People associate that town of having that particular delicious dish. Just like the Qur’an having a Surah with the title “the Cow”, not every ayah is talking about the cow. The lessons from the story of the Cow in that Surah has a profound effect on the theme of the Surah. Eg. In Surah Al-Baqorah, the theme is on “iman” (faith/belief) while Surah Ali-Imran is about “Islam”. You may find ayaat on both surahs that seems to be the same topic, eg. about the Jews but the lessons and guidance are about “Iman” and the latter about “Islam”.
Imagine each Surah as a town or city. Many cities together make up a country. Each town/city will be connected with the other town one way or another, and the whole network of towns make the running of a country possible. All the Surahs make up the Qur’an, a complete guidance for mankind. The same when you look up at space, all the planets, stars, galaxies, etc. make up our universe.
Additional note: The beginning of a Surah and the end of it are connected. This is a consistent feature in the Qur’an. The beginning and the end of every Surah are somehow connected. There is connection between the last thing you will read about in the previous Surah and the first thing you will read about in the next Surah. So the end of a Surah and the introduction of the next are linked.
The names of Surah in the Quran are not all Tawqifi (given by the Prophet s.a.w). The Prophet s.a.w gave names only to few Surahs such as al-Fatihah, al-Baqarah, Ali Imran and al-Kahfi. The rest of the names of Surah were "ijtihad" by the companions of the Prophet s.a.w.
Many Surahs have more than 1 name. Naming a Surah is just an act of labeling. The rest of the Surahs in the Quran other than what has been named by the Prophet s.a.w, was up to the Sahabah to agree upon names that they can easily relate to.
Nowadays, if you bought Mushafs from one part of the Muslim world (eg. the sub-continent) and compare them with those in another part of the Muslim world (eg. South east Asia), you will notice the same Surahs have different names. The same surahs were having several names since the time of the Sahabah.
Eg.
Surah Al-Mulk is also Surah Tabaarak,
Surah Qalam is Surah Nun,
Surah Tawbah is Surah Bara'ah
and so on.
Do not get confused as this is not an issue and is a trivial matter.
وَإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا فَأۡتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ مِّن مِّثۡلِهِۦ وَٱدۡعُواْ شُهَدَآءَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمۡ صَـٰدِقِينَ
And if you are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Surah like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (if there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true.
(Surah Al-Baqorah – 2:23)
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